cookies

Advanced Uninstaller Pro has been protecting the files of Windows PC users for more than 15 years. This powerful free tool provides a range of options for permanently deleting sensitive files, cleaning your Registry, optimizing and backing up your Registry and Windows core files, and removing unwanted software from your machine. When a program just refuses to leave, this is the software to get rid of it.

Pros

A plethora of free tools: Advanced Uninstaller Pro has dozens of powerful tools that you can use for free with your personal license. The General Tools menu features Startup and Services Manager … Read more

CookieSpy gives you the ability to see all the cookies stored in your Web browser and allows you to keep cookies from sites you trust and delete cookies from sites you don't trust. While this app is good at what it does -- viewing and deleting cookies -- it does not offer any other features.

Pros

Straightforward: CookieSpy automatically detects all the Web browsers installed on your computer and displays each browser as a tab. Under each tab you'll find a list of cookies active in that particular browser, with additional details visible, such as the Web address … Read more

Cookie Viewer lets you see what cookies are on your computer, when they were created, and when they expire, along with other useful data. With this app in place, you'll never have to wonder what cookies could be lurking on your computer, and you can easily remove any that you choose.

The interface for this app is not flashy, but it gets the job done. There is also a Help feature that contains a lot of good information and can really give you an idea of how to get the most out of the program. When you're ready … Read more

When it comes to Girl Scout Cookie season, I always begin to sweat, wondering how I am going to track down a box of those delicious Peanut Butter Patties. It never crossed my mind to try searching the App Store or the Girl Scouts Web site to find the nearest cookie sales until I found this post on Brokelyn.com.

As it turns out, the Girls Scout Web site does offer a method for searching the cookie sales schedule in your zip code. There are even links to an iOS and Android app to help you fill your cabinets, but … Read more

The same Web browser cookies used to track consumers on the Internet are being used by the National Security Agency to track surveillance targets, according to a Washington Post report.

The cookies -- bits of code that allow advertisers to track consumers' Web activity to deliver more-targeted ads -- are being used by the NSA to help identify targets for government hacking and surveillance, according to internal NSA presentation slides provided to the newspaper by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The NSA is particularly fond of using a Google tracking mechanism called a PREF cookie, which contains a unique numeric … Read more

Cookie Stumbler allows you to clear your browsers and other apps of unwanted cookies, quickly and easily. With frequently updated cookie definitions, a deep scanning tool, and the ability to show you where each cookie is located, what data it contains, and how it interacts with your personal data, this is a must-have tool for anyone concerned about Internet security.

Downloading Cookie Stumbler is quick and it takes only a few seconds to install. You can then open it and immediately start scanning your computer for cookies. You'll likely need to update the software shortly after installing because it … Read more

Like most people, my knee-jerk response to tracking cookies is that they are evil and must be banished from my computer.

Then again, blocking cookies doesn't necessarily prevent sites from tracking you. The Electronic Frontier Foundation's Micah Lee explained in a June blog post on Deeplinks that when you open a Web page, your browser retrieves elements from many third-party servers.

For example, if the page has a Facebook Like button, JavaScript and images are loaded from Facebook's servers. The request your browser sends to each server includes your IP address and other information that could identify … Read more

Google agreed Monday to pay $17 million to settle claims from 36 states and the District of Columbia that the company violated user privacy when circumventing the tracking cookie blockers in Apple's Safari browser.